Thursday, May 30, 2013

Armchair BEA 2013 Day 3: Giveaways and Literature

graphic by Nina at Nina Reads
It's already Day 3 of Armchair BEA! Let's just get right to it, shall we?

Giveaways
It's giveaway day for many of the blogs participating in Armchair BEA, and oh how I wish this were one of them. Unfortunately, this week is nuts so I wasn't able to get myself properly organized in time. I work in a school and with the academic year ending next week, things have been crazy busy. However! I do hope you'll subscribe or follow me on Twitter if you don't already because I do plan on having giveaways this summer. There are many books in my possession at the moment that are in need of new homes. So stay tuned!

Literature
General Literary Fiction. It's a term that gets thrown around a lot in the book and publishing world, but I have yet to interact with a definition that encompasses this genre satisfactorily. These books don't necessarily have to take place in a contemporary setting. They can have aspects of an other (sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, etc.). They do tend to take on life's BIG QUESTIONS and I feel like in many cases, it's a good idea to have a dictionary nearby.

But again, I'm a fairly educated person and I still feel a little bit off balance when this term gets thrown into the mix. Am I the only one? Today's post is a short one because I'm hoping to explore other people's blogs and find some answers.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

10 comments:

  1. I'm with ya. I definitely feel a bit out of the loop when I hear this term!

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    1. Day 3 is almost over and I'm still no closer to a definition! Agh! I hope you've had more luck at least with the giveaway aspect of the day. Thanks for commenting =)

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  2. I so know what you mean! I just tried to figure it out from other blogs, too! I really don't know what to do with that genre...I just tried my best in today's post :)

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    1. Sometimes, that's all you can do. Hope you've had some luck and thanks so much for commenting!

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  3. I thinks it's a tough term to define, but it doesn't bother me. There have been books that I've read that seemed pretentious but for the most part I find literary fiction attracts me. I like to read books that are a little tough to read, that throw me off balance.

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    1. Literary fiction does seem to come with this tag of being uptight and super pretentious, and it can be difficult for me to decide if that's a fair label or not. Sometimes it feels like people are showing off their SAT words, other times I feel like I'm just not smart enough or must be missing something. I get a very similar feeling when trying to 'get' modern art. I like challenging books, too, but not when they make me feel like I'm being talked down to if that makes sense. Thanks so much for your comments!

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  4. I really had a difficult time writing my post for today because I just couldn't really figure out what exactly literary fiction was.

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    1. Same here! But the general consensus seems to be books that focus more on character than on plot. However, I do like how everyone seems to have been responding to this mostly with books they love because they love the characters. My recommendation is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. Maybe it's not literary fiction now, but I think someday people will see it that way.

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  5. I know what you mean. It's been interesting to see how people view literary fiction today! I just read what I think sounds interesting and don't worry about labels.

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    1. I completely love that attitude! Thanks for commenting and yay for ABEA when I actually have discussion going on with posts =)

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